I will be finishing up my engine soon and I am curious what to do upon startup. I plan on pulling the fuel pump fuse to get oil pressure. But I am curious on what oil to use on startup and how often to change it. Also, how many miles to drive below what RPMs. I have a rebuilt head and all new rings/bearings. Any and all info would be awesome. Thanks.

 

I took the ghetto approach; filled with Mobil 15w40 delvac oil (meant to be used in diesel engines, contains a lot of cleaning additives), DME relay out, cranked for a while, dme relay in, started right up and immediately got oil pressure...

Drove real carefully for like 100kms (that might have been a bit too much but it didn't seem to hurt anything) and changed oil + filter (Valvoline racing 10w60). Then proceeded to drive around, keeping rpms below 4,000 and staying off boost most of the time.

After maybe 600kms or so I started boosting a bit more and also revved up to 5,000 rpms. Now I have around ~1000-1100 kms on the engine and I'm boosting approx 15 psi, but still no wide open throttle and not (much) past 5k rpms ... need to get bigger injectors real soon and then take her WOT to the redline

 

We have used basic 30wt, non detergent if you can find it, for the first 150-200 miles. We've had very good results seating in the rings this way. below is a good way to prime to the oil pump

*Fill oil pan with 5 quarts of oil
***PRIME OIL PUMP *fill oil through hole in filter housing closest to engine(2 quarts), turn engine over BACKWARDS 4-8 times. Pull fuel pump fuse, DME relay*.
*Install oil filter
*Connect battery
*Crank car over in 5 sec intervals 3-4 times. Install fuel pump fuse and DME relay.
*Check oil level
*Cross your fingers and START

 

Not without controversy, here's a link to a break-in regimine that makes sense to me (and I'm using):

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

That guy is talking about the crosshatch that is on steel bores, but its your engine....do what you want. It's not gonna blow up or anything.

If you have trouble getting oil pressure the way Ski mentioned....try using a vacum source on I believe the left port of the spot where the oil filter screws on. I am not sure it is the left, I read it in the archives though so if you search you will find your answer. There have been a lot of threads on getting oil pressure.

I broke mine in as follows:
Filled with SAE30 non detergent dino oil per recommendations by several machine shops.

First startup: try to hold a 2000rpm idle as the engine belches out incredible amounts of smoke until it comes up to operating temperature, then shut it down...check for leaks while doing this, etc.

Then the next day I took it out for a long drive on the highway in the middle of the night, being very careful not to bog the engine and to constantly vary the revs, up to around 3000rpm, progressively higher up to around 4500-5k by the end of this drive (~80 miles). I was NOT getting into the boost, just getting the revs up there and letting it engine brake all the way down to 2500.

The next time I drove it I kept doing pretty much the same thing, at around 300ish miles I changed to 10w40 dino oil. At around 5-600 miles I got into the boost. Around 600 miles I changed to Amsoil 20w50 (synthetic). Around 750 the car was on the track at Pocono.

 

Cross-hatching is common to all new bores with piston rings, steel or otherwise (including Alusil, Nikasil, etc.).

 

any engine rebuild manual has always said to run it hard a few times on initial break in.

 

I must admit that my break in's are quite a lot like described in the link.
I just take it easy for the first few runs and by thr end of the third day im running it wide open, I just shorten my runs a little bit.

Uppon initial srart up, prime the pump remove Fpump fuse/DME relay and crank the engine over ( without the spark plugs) till you get oil pressure. ( a small squirt of oil in each cylinder isnt a bad idea if its been a while since you put the pistons in)

I break em in on castrol 20w50 dyno oil and after a track event I switch to Amsoil series 2000 20w50.

 

I primed my oil pump with air a la Lindsey Racing. Turned my air regulator down to 20 psi or so and blew through the dipstick hole until oil came out where the filter is. Pulled the fuel pump fuse and turned the engine over until the pressure read 4-5. Put the fuse back in and fired her up!

 

Are you saying that the cross-hatching is visible in Alusil bores that were just cleaned up with the special paste and sunen machine ? OR are you talking about a brand new block?

 

Would running it hard really matter because I never had this engine honed, obviously. I can understand the new rings wanting to seat in these cylinder walls, I guess. So I think I will follow the easy break-in with a few harder runs within the first hour of driving it. Then change the oil right after that. Run 10w-30 non detergent oil and prime the oil pump. But when I do a few 'hard' runs, should I boost? What do you guys think of that hard break-in method?

 

Both.

 

Although written for 911 motors, Wayne Dempsey's book, "How to Rebuild and Modify 911 Engines" is a must read. It includes a section on engine break-in.

 

just remember top fuel dragsters get the engine rebuilt and with no break-in make 1000's of hp and go full boost with in 30sec of start up, plus how many cars actually get broken in from brand new? No one really follows that, especially when they buy a new sports car

 

Maybe I'm a geek, but I've owned 2 brand new cars and broke them both in by the book. Check out the 996/7 boards -- plenty of stories of guys itching at the bit to wind it out. Top fuelers don't last long afterall.